Jordan Selesnick searched for the best way to describe the Azorius
That word is "agency."
"One of the things I love about Momo is the amount of agency the deck provides. In previous tournaments, I've played decks that have good plans but don't mulligan well or see a ton of cards, making it challenging to enact those plans with much consistency. But thanks to the deck's ability to
"As such, I decided I had to be fearless and mulligan a lot. Like, a lot a lot."
If "agency" describes what Selesnick liked most about the deck archetype he described as a metagame call for a Regional Championship field defined by Prowess, then "fearless" described Selesnick's play. While he pointed to his mulligan decisions as being a big part of that, that adjective extends to how he made aggressive, proactive plays with a deck capable of sustaining a second-turn
"I won two separate games against Landfall on mulligans to four. I mulliganed to five with regularity," Selesnick recalled. "I knew the hands that I needed to win in the key matchups and mulliganed for them.
"For that, I am proud. I think it's one of the biggest reasons I won the tournament."
And we have a winner in Washington DC! Congrats to Jordan Selesnick, who defeats Matt Xu in the finals of #SCGDC to win the Regional Championship for the United States with Azorius Momo! pic.twitter.com/31hA3e65w9
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) May 31, 2026
With the win, the 29-year-old is now qualified for the Pro Tour that eluded him for years and the Magic World Championship. Selesnick's Magic prowess and mental game make his story an impressive one. The Limited enthusiast made the transition to Constructed when he began competing on the Regional Championship circuit several years ago—Washington, DC, was his twelfth Regional Championship—but he struggled for multiple events as he learned that, while his strong Limited skills provided a solid baseline for Constructed, he needed more work.
"In 2021, I attended the first MagicCon post-COVID in Philadelphia. There, I played in a Limited Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ), made the Top 8, and lost playing for the Pro Tour invitation. I was devastated. At the same time, it was the first moment where qualifying for the Pro Tour felt tangible, and it pushed me to take competitive Magic more seriously.
"At my third Regional Championship, I spent a month learning a Constructed deck inside and out: Greasefang in Pioneer. I narrowly made my first Day Two of an RC at 6-3 but lost decisively for most of Day Two. By my seventh RC, I had made Day Two four times, four of the last five, but couldn't get the eleventh win needed for the Pro Tour. At an RC in Hartford in 2025, I started out 10-2 and lost three straight win-and-ins for the PT. Going into DC, I had lost five separate Pro Tour win-and-ins and gotten to ten wins at RCs four times. I felt like I had finally become a formidable Constructed player. I was looking at data, predicting metagames, selecting decks accordingly, and tuning my card choices with specific plans in mind. I was ready."
Part of winning any Constructed tournament is playing a deck that's positioned well in the metagame, which means players who can predict the meta in advance—but not too far in advance—are often rewarded over the course of long tournaments. That's something that Selesnick didn't fully understand when he started qualifying for the Regional Championship circuit, but by the time the RC in DC rolled around, he felt he had a handle on things.
"Ever since right before Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven, the meta had been shifting a lot in a clear way. Every week, a new deck dominated. Before the Pro Tour, it was Prowess, then during the Pro Tour it was Selesnya Landfall, then Selesnya Gearhulk, then Four-Color Control," he explained. "What stood out to me was that every week's breakout deck was usually built to beat the breakout deck from the week before. The metagame wasn't settling. It was actively reacting. All with the caveat that through these shifts in win rates and popularity, Prowess was still played a ton, and Landfall was played, albeit less than Prowess.
"Going into DC, my expectation was that the pattern would continue. To beat Control, I thought the Prowess decks were going to get leaner and faster, the Landfall decks would drop the white splash and speed up their clock, and the Mardu Discard deck would pick up. My hope was that these three decks would rise to the top, pushing out Four-Color Control and Dimir Excruciator, and make up the majority of the Day Two metagame. Momo is a deck that is quite good into Prowess, Mardu Discard, and with a lot of tuning and testing, Mono-Green Landfall. However, I have no delusions that it is as good against Four-Color Control, Excruciator, or Spellementals (at least in my opinion). I just wanted the Control players to scare people out of playing Spellementals and for my good matchups to outnumber the bad ones in those later tournament rounds."
Momo, Friendly Flier
Quantum Riddler
Springleaf Drum
If you've ever wondered what's going through the inside of a Regional Champion's mind when you run into them in the MTG Arena queues, now you know. Selesnick's call paid off like a dream, and he dropped just a single match all weekend on his way to a 15-1-2 finish—the only loss came in Round 2 against Brandon Tong's Izzet Prowess, which featured an absurd 31-7 record.
This event was the high point (so far) of a Magic journey that began in 2016 when Selesnick wandered to his local store in New Orleans while attending college and stumbled into an Amonkhet draft. That led to watching Ivan Floch win the Pro Tour with his Standard Azorius Control deck. Ten years later, that rabbit hole will take him to MagicCon: Amsterdam and the Pro Tour next month.
"Winning this is absolutely huge, and it is undoubtedly my biggest accomplishment. It doesn't take much reading between the lines on how I harped on my Pro Tour win-and-in losses to know that I was dying for an invitation and felt like I had a chip on my shoulder because I hadn't played in one yet," Selesnick admitted. "What's really cool is that I had been fighting to break through for some time, and in one go, I get Pro Tour and World Championship invitations? That's magical."
Looking back, Selesnick knew exactly who he wanted to thank for helping him finally climb the mountain: his testing team, the Bookhouse Baes, his partner Becky Davidson for the support through the marathon of the RC, and friend and testing partner Richard Fried, whom Selesnick credits with much of his growth over the last several years.
Looking ahead, Selesnick cannot wait to tackle the challenge that he's been chasing all these years: to test himself against the absolute best in the world.
"One of the things I'm most excited about is getting to work with testing teams. I love working with other great players, and the opportunity to have structure and focused learning sessions is idyllic for me," he explained. "Two of my teammates, Krishna Pai and Lawrence Safranek, also qualified for the Pro Tour. I'm super psyched and can't wait to go to Amsterdam with them."
Selesnick and many other Regional Champions are preparing their Modern decks and travel plans for Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes, which begins on July 17, 2026, at MagicCon: Amsterdam. There's plenty to get excited for, from top-tier broadcast and web coverage to a Top 8 draft on Sunday, so clear your schedule. You won't want to miss this weekend of Magic.